Biennale Music: Cochin Azad Stirs Hearts with Soulful Numbers

KOCHI:
Noted singer Cochin Azad stirred the hearts of listeners with soulful Ghazals at the weekly ‘Arts and Medicine’ show organised by the Kochi Biennale Foundation at the Government General Hospital here today.
This week was the fourth week of the ‘Kochi Ghazal’ musical series, which has been bringing to the wider public, a genre of music that is generally assumed to have a limited, niche audience.
The patients, staff and bystanders gathered in the hospital tapped their feet and gave generous applause to the artist as he belted out one melodious number after the other.
Cochin Azad has performed in musical shows around India and in Russia and is an integral part of the Mehboob Memorial Orchestra. He is the lead singer of their ‘Rafi Nite’ programme and an active singer in stage shows organised by music director M Jayachandran.
An ardent fan of Mohammad Rafi, Azad began the show with ‘Jis Raat ke Khwaab Aayi’, purportedly the last ghazal sung by the legendary singer. It was followed by Mehdi Hassan’s ‘Ranjish Hi Sahi’, trailed by a dozen others. Three Malayalam songs were interwoven with the ghazals which concluded with Pankaj Udhas’ popular ‘Chithi Aayi Hai’.
“There are still audiences who want nothing but ghazals, though evidently their number has gone down. The decline has hastened in the last few years as people consume music which is trending and few have the time to appreciate the nuances of Urdu poetry ,” said Azad who has been a passionate music lover for the past three decades.
“Ghazals, as noted in recent years, do not get the profits and visibility as other forms of music. Ghazals associated with peace and relaxation are a luxury in today’s hectic life, and here at the hospital, the crowd enjoyed each ghazal in its fullness” he added.
The all-Wednesday ‘Arts and Medicine’ is an initiative of the Kochi Biennale Foundation in association with Mehboob Memorial orchestra and sponsored by CAFS (Casino Air Caterers & Flight Services) aiming to provide solace to patients through therapeutic music.